Orchards need to be regularly pruned in order to keep the trees in the proper condition for growing fruit (e.g., apples, peaches, etc.). Traditionally, pruning and trellis work was done on a ladder, which was laborious and very time consuming because workers had to climb down off the ladder to move from place to place within a tree and to progress from tree to tree. To cut down on the challenges of using ladders or other types of fixed scaffolding, certain elevated, mobile platforms were developed to increase pruning efficiency, such as the aerial platform apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,713 to Carpenter et al. (“Carpenter”). However, these elevated, mobile platforms are dedicated pruning machines, which adds another piece of equipment to a farm or orchard thereby increasing costs and expense. Also, these mobile platforms have not been designed to allow for pruning of both sides of a row of trees simultaneously. Additionally, the apparatus disclosed in Carpenter requires both a pruner in the platform and an operator to move the platform to the next location. These failures make them impractical for many orchards and small farms. At least one device, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,832 to Rediske (“Rediske”), discloses a single extension boom with an aerial platform that is attached to a rear three-point hitch of a tractor that was intended for use in repairing and painting buildings with relatively high side walls. In the context of orchard maintenance, however, Rediske has several shortcomings, including: 1) significant chance of instability during use (a platform usable in orchards needs to be movable along the curvilinear path of the tree branches, which is not accounted for in Rediske's design), 2) inability to have two pruners on opposite sides of a row of trees, and 3) it includes a complex, integrated driving control system that is not readily removable from the tractor when the aerial platform is not needed.
What is needed are platforms designed for use in pruning, harvesting, and trellis work that are removably attached to opposing sides of the front half of standard utility tractors that can accommodate more than one worker, allow a worker to move about on the platform, allow a compressor or other device to be attached to the rear of the tractors so as to be available for powering pruning equipment, for example, and to allow the worker to adjust the location of the tractor from the platform and the position of the platform itself, so as to get closer to a tree in need of pruning, for example.